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Murder has a family tree! . . . in Deadly Pedigree, an award-winning Louisiana genealogical mystery. Nick Herald, a professional genealogist in New Orleans, searches for Louisiana relatives of an elderly man, a Holocaust survivor. Soon Nick learns that his client is actually seeking strange vengeance on a wealthy New Orleans woman, who then persuades Nick to work for her and to steal the information she fears. Genealogical curiosity turns deadly as Nick stumbles upon murderous mysteries with roots reaching far back into the past. In the course of his investigation, Nick pieces together a tangled tale of bigotry, betrayal, lust, and shame spanning two centuries. He falls into the arms of the wealthy woman's beautiful daughter, with dangerous consequences for his conscience and his heart. And as the story draws to its conclusion, he learns far more about himself than he ever wanted to know. Finally, Nick makes courageous decisions to right old wrongs and expose the guilty, while doing his best to save his own neck. Ernest J. Gaines, acclaimed titan of American letters, had high praise for Foxs Deadly Pedigree: "This novel starts with a bang, and ends with a bang. It is a mystery, with all the characters you will find in most good mysteries--tough ones, evil ones, good ones, and in-between ones. The scenes of New Orleans (of the Quarter and the Garden District) and those of Natchitoches are brilliant. The plot takes us back into history, with a subject that is quite familiar: an older generation trying its best to keep a secret of identity from a younger generation."

Deadly Pedigree won 1st prize at the 1995 Deep South Writers Conference and was a finalist in the 1996 St. Martin's Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery Contest. Additionally, during the spring and summer of 2000, Authorlink.com recognized Jimmy Fox as a "Featured Mystery Author" for Deadly Pedigree, the first novel in his Louisiana genealogical mystery series.

The star of Fox's mysteries is Nick Herald, an ex-college professor of English, now a Certified Genealogist, scratching out a paltry living in fascinating New Orleans, Louisiana. Undeservedly disgraced in his former profession, he has become an outsider, reluctant to trust or to love, but driven to help justice prevail. He scoffs at authority and sneers at hypocrisy. But his cynicism is tempered by an awareness that he too is a flawed human being. And his passion for genealogy is genuine, even spiritual: he believes that exploring the lives of our ancestors helps us better understand other people, other cultures, and other times.

Assisted by Hawty Latimer, a brilliant, young, disabled African American woman, Nick uses his vast store of knowledge, his remarkable memory, and--most of all--his intuition to root out the deadly rot festering within the Louisiana family trees he investigates. He's no hard-boiled hero; yet when cornered, he will fight to win against villains who seek to obscure, control, or destroy the preserved record of the past for their own criminal purposes.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Jimmy Fox's hometown is Alexandria, Louisiana, a dynamic city on the Red River in the center of the state. Louisiana's many distinct cultures have left their marks here; some have managed to thrive into modern times. As Fox was growing up in this interesting microcosm of the state at large, in this beautiful recreational wonderland, he was fortunate to have parents who emphasized ideas and their expression, creativity, and self-determination.

At Tulane University (B.A., English major, 1977) and at Louisiana State University (M.A., English, 1980), Fox discovered the real value of a good liberal-arts education: learning how to learn. Later, for more than a decade, he worked at the Alexandria NBC television affiliate, in various creative and managerial capacities. Here, he honed his writing skills under the pressure of constant deadlines.

He's been writing, in one way or another, all of his adult life. When he discovered the wonders of genealogy, he knew he was onto something that could be the stuff of great mystery fiction. Fox continues to study extensively in the field of family history, both in a personal quest to trace his roots and in an effort to enhance the authenticity of his mysteries.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

Proving that genealogists can be hard-boiled detectives, "Deadly Pedigree" follows a discredited academic in a "milk them for as much as I can" genealogy business as he's hired to collect everything about an immigrant lineage for two reasons: one to let the truth come out, and one to remove all evidence at any cost. While the protagonist is sympathetic, his moments of guilt don't exactly stop him from acting immorally to get what he wants (so I couldn't always exactly root for him).

The locations are well described, if perhaps too much (an occasional full page of exposition between lines of dialogue), but often the dialogue seems to get the same treatment (who talks like that?). This and the "know it's wrong, but do it anyway" nature interrupted the flow for me, but it won't stop me from checking out the next two Nick Herald mysteries ("Lineages and Lies" and "Jackpot Blood", both being reissued in paperback and Kindle soon).

This was a very enjoyable read for me, especially being a Louisiana girl. I could readily envision the characters in their environments (New Orleans and the Natchitoches, Louisiana area). I guess that is because Nick seemed pretty realistic. I liked the dark nature of the book's plot and motivations that were balanced by lighter moments as well. It was pleasingly complicated and kept me guessing until the end. I'm also intrigued by genealogy and the book appealed to my interest in that topic. It was definitely worth taking the time to read. I will pick up other Nick Herald genealogical mysteries in the future.

A wonderful blend of mystery, genealogy, with a little world history thrown in. It's a fun, quick book to read, but goes into the less traveled realm using genealogy as a background. I wasn't disappointed.

Both of Jimmy Fox's 1st and 2nd books are very wordy, but not much plot. I had hoped the second book would be better than the first but it was not so I lost interest about a quarter of the way through. ( And I read everything, I am a nut about finding out the ending ). He has a good premise to start with, a New Orleans genealogist who is struggling to make ends meet but has excellent knowledge about old court houses, private collections of historical records, etc. His sleuth is a single guy who spends a lot of times in bars, and dives, and checking out attractive women, smoking and pot. I think of genealogists as smarter than that. He is computer illiterate but in the last half of the first book he gets an assistant who is a tech wiz, an interesting character underutilized in the 2nd book. I want to read more about the unusual things that happen, or even the EZ, stumble over, mysteries solved when hunting down genealogical records for his customers. This book would have been a really good short story. Books solving mysteries and murders with genealogy has a couple of other authors that weave better tales.

While the plot was interesting it was clouded over by too many adjectives explaining obscure things in detail. I would get lost and have to reread a paragraph just to figure out what the original topic was about.I can usually read through a good book quickly that can hold my attention, but this has taken me a couple weeks. I love a good mystery and the geneaology got my attention, but I must say I was disappointed